Current News

by Sam Hooper As a young person choosing to live in Vermont, it’s important that we invest in our state’s future. When we look at the barriers to success for a small businesses like Vermont Glove, access to affordable, high-quality child care for our employees is top the list. This is no surprise considering approximately 60 percent of Vermont’s youngest children don’t have access to the care they need, according to the child care advocacy organization Let’s Grow Kids. Vermont families are spending up to 30% of their household income on child care, the majority of child care programs are experiencing staffing shortages, and early child hood educators – who are essential to our workforce and economy – are not being compensated fairly for their work. Our child care system is broken.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic filed a federal lawsuit against the US Bureau of Land Management, on behalf of its client Wild Horse Fire Brigade (WHFB), on Wednesday, October 5. The lawsuit seeks a halt to the roundup of wild horses from private property within and adjacent to the Pokegama Herd Management Area in southern Oregon. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to follow the law and its own guidance before initiating the roundup. The suit seeks to prevent the loss of wild horses and to compel BLM to conduct legally required studies regarding the horses. Approximately 230 wild horses live in the Pokegama Herd Management Area (HMA), located in a remote area near the California-Oregon border, southwest of Klamath Falls, OR.

Vermont Business Magazine This weekly report from the Vermont Agency of Transportation is a list of planned construction activities that will have traffic impacts on state highways throughout Vermont for the week of October 10, 2022. Most crews will be off Monday in observance of the holiday, but work will resume on Tuesday. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Woodlands Association’s Annual Meeting will be held Saturday, October 29, 2022 from 8:30 A.M.-4:30 P.M. This year’s event will be at the Aloha Foundation’s Hulbert Outdoor Center in Fairlee, VT. This annual event is a great opportunity to hear updates on Vermont woodlands and meet with fellow members, foresters, and other forest industry professionals. The day will begin with breakfast where attendees will have the chance to mingle and meet up with friends old and new. The remainder of the morning will feature guided walks on the Aloha Foundation’s managed forest or a presentation by Todd Waldron of the Ruffed Grouse Society on the intersection of sustainable forestry, wildlife habitat, and climate.

Vermont Business Magazine These are the final weeks to visit Shelburne Museum to experience the 2022 season of exhibitions, programs, and refurbished historic buildings. The museum’s final open day will be October 16, after which the museum will close and reopen at the end of November for the 2^nd Annual Winter Lights celebration.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation will be installing a new overflow parking area at the Blush Hill boat access area this fall. The boat launch is located at the end of Blush Hill Road in the town of Waterbury and allows for motorboat and paddle craft access to the Waterbury Reservoir. The work is scheduled to take place from the first week of October through the beginning of November. The new overflow parking area will have seven stalls available for trailered vehicle only parking and one accessible parking stall. The overflow parking area will also have a space dedicated to an accessible port-a-potty for the high-use season.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL), in conjunction with the Caledonia County State’s Attorneys Office, Saint Johnsbury Police Department, Vermont Department of Corrections Probation and Parole, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), executed a search warrant that led to the seizure of drugs, ledgers, cash, and other evidence depicting illegal drug sales.

During a six-month investigation, Pat Ross, an investigator with DLL, verified complaints associated with Best Buds Smoke Shop in St. Johnsbury, which currently holds a tobacco license with a tobacco substitute endorsement. Those complaints included allegations of illegal drug sales to minors and within proximity to a school.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported October5 that COVID-19 cases exceeded 600 last, as hospitalizations were also up. COVID-19 infections are still considered "Low." Total cases for the week increased by 9.8 % to 638 after rising 31% the previous week. Hospitalizations increased by 6 to 45 and have been edging up over the last few weeks (from a low of 30). There were 19 COVID-related fatalities in August, 11 in September and 2 so far in October, for a pandemic total of 728 (the VDH report could be updated as more data becomes available). Vermont has the lowest COVID death rate in the nation, at 115 per 100,000 population.

Vermont Business Magazine Amid inflation and high prices, Vermonters can make extra cash by removing their junk cars. In 2015, the State of Vermont created the Salvage Yard Rule (bit.ly/SY-Rule) to protect human health and the environment by ensuring the safe, proper, and sustainable operation of salvage yards (aka junk yards). Vermonters with four or more unregistered and uninspected cars or vehicles (or other junk) on their property need a Salvage Yard Permit. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has ramped up efforts to clean up unpermitted salvage yards and to help more Vermonters follow the State’s rules.

Vermont Business Magazine Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS), southeastern Vermont’s non-profit community mental-health agency, announced today that they have been awarded the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) CCBHC Planning, Development, and Implementation grant designed to address health disparities in rural settings. This significant funding of $1 million per year for four years, will allow the mental health agency to prepare to become a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). CCBHCs are specially funded organizations that provide a comprehensive range of mental health and substance abuse services that are required to meet certain quality standards of care.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today that Fred’s Plumbing & Heating, Inc, a fuel oil delivery business based in Derby, was fined $9,000 for violations of the Vermont Aboveground Storage Tank Rules. Vermont’s Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) Rules protect human health and the environment by establishing standards for the design, installation, and inspection of all AST systems.

Vermont Business Magazine Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) today announced Judith Selzer as their next CEO & President. Selzer has more than twenty years’ experience working with the nation’s leading social justice organizations. She served as Chief Strategy Officer for Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central, and Southern New Jersey and as Executive Director for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. Prior to Planned Parenthood, Selzer co-founded the Women’s Foundation of Florida, launching their Women on the Run non-partisan campaign training program, and their Girls Leadership Institute, focused on empowering girls to lean into science, technology, engineering, and math.